What should I do if I receive a "Warning: failed to find a default database to use. Please make sure your installation is not corrupt" error message when attempting to launch Football Manager?

Go to the following location - C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\[Football Manager title]

On Windows 7 and Windows 8.1

- Right-clicking on the FM shortcut link and go to 'properties'.

- Within that screen select the 'compatibility' tab and select compatibility mode by selecting the checkbox.

- Select the system you’re running on (i.e. on Windows 7 select Windows 7).

On Windows 10 and 11

- Right click on the FM shortcut link and select ‘Troubleshoot compatibility’

If the above doesn't help, please try as follows:

1. First of all, right-click on your desktop and select 'New' -> 'Folder'
2. Create a folder and name it something to distinguish it (say SI backup)
3. Once you've done this go to your Sports Interactive folder found within 'documents' which by default is at the following location - C:\Users\[YOUR WINDOWS USERNAME]\Documents\Sports Interactive\[Football Manager title]
4. This should contain folders like 'games', 'crash dumps' etc. Please cut every folder from here and paste them into the folder you've created on your desktop.
5. Once you've done this and the Sports Interactive\[Football Manager title] folder is now empty, launch the game. If it works, copy back the files from the desktop folder and hopefully it should now load without any issues.

If you're still having issues, please submit a support request for further assistance.